Dave Lombardo rejoined his Testament bandmates in 2022, but he's not too sure if that'll carry into this year. In an interview with Blabbermouth, Lombardo revealed he won't be touring with Testament at all in 2023, saying "we were having several scheduling conflicts. I couldn't back out of them. I won't be joining them on their upcoming tours for 2023."
When asked if he'll rejoin Testament at all in the future, Lombardo said his schedule is pretty filled up and he's not sure what'll happen. It's not a hard "no," but it's also not a resounding commitment to come back either.
"I don't know, because everything is starting to snowball with Mr. Bungle and Empire State Bastard and the Misfits," said Lombardo. "I've been with the Misfits since 2016. Testament is a well-oiled machine. They're always touring and releasing albums. To try to find that space or that time to release something… I don't know."
Lombardo was then asked point blank if his future with Testament was uncertain. "Yes. It's wait-and-see," he said. "I can't guarantee anything because of my commitments. I did fulfill my contractual commitment for 2022, which was quite extensive. We did one of the longest tours I have done. It was like seven weeks in Europe, which was great. I really needed to get out there and build my chops after the pandemic. That was a lifesaver.
"We'll see. The relationship is good. The doors are open. The communication is there. I told them that I was seeing some clashes coming up. This was in the first week of January when I reached out to Eric [Peterson, guitar] and told him. This has been brewing for a while. Actually, I saw it in November/December of last year. I started seeing, 'Oh no. This is going to happen. This is not going to happen.' It's very tricky."
Testament has been touring with drummer Chris Dovas (Seven Spires, ex-Unflesh) recently, though Lombardo is still officially a part of Testament. Lombardo originally joined Testament in 1998, performed on The Gathering, and left in 1999.
